USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 18
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Because this is not a thickly populated area, aviation has not yet made as much headway here as in some places. On the other hand, the development of aviation facilities is steadily going forward. Air- ports are increasing in number, and improving in quality of service. Some of them are private, while others are community projects. The ships of the sky follow roughly the routes of the trains, the major highways and the paths of military conquest. We are not surprised to find an airline passing from Boston to Burlington and then on to Montreal. Nor are we surprised to know that there are regular mail planes connecting New York City and Montreal, which also stop at Burlington. This means of transportation does not yet rival in impor- tance the steamboat, canal boat, or train of their particular eras, how- ever, nor the automobile of today. In the future the airplane is bound
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to acquire more importance in this area than it has yet attained, but just how far it will replace existing facilities of travel we do not know.
This completes our survey of the development of transportation facilities in western Vermont and northeastern New York. Although a comparatively thinly populated area, this section has really con- tributed much in this field. There is no need to recapitulate again the achievements attained here, as Winans, Davenport and the others are in little danger of obscurity; but too often the pardonable emphasis given to the great military traditions of this area has blinded us to our economic development. Neither in war nor in peace were the people of this area content to follow others, preferring rather to be leaders.
It is also obvious by this time that the entire economic life of this section was intimately associated with the developments of transpor- tation facilities. Turnpikes, railroads and canals were constructed to serve a wide variety of economic interests and brought prosperity and fame to hitherto isolated communities. Industries depended upon transportation, and transportation depended on industries.
There was nothing tedious about the development of transporta- tion, for change was constant. Almost as soon as one mode of travel became the general practice it was threatened and sometimes sup- planted altogether by another. In certain periods water routes domi- nated; in others the land routes were most used. Sometimes the produce of the Champlain Valley was shipped northward toward Montreal, sometimes southward toward Albany and New York, and sometimes eastward toward Boston. On at least two occasions the changes in direction took place with dramatic suddenness, as we shall see. In any case, the main trunk lines of the present day tend to follow the routes of the early stagecoaches, which followed roads carved by advancing armies and paths worn thin by tribes of red men, and these in turn followed the trails of animals when traveling on land. But whether travel has been by land or water, we all have fol- lowed, and we continue to follow, routes formed by our Creator, before man or beast existed.
CHAPTER XIII
Lumber and Other Forest Products
Lumber was the first major industry in both Vermont and north- ern New York. All other occupations were of secondary importance. The part it played in the development of this area is almost incredible to people of our day and age. In their turn, the tanning and wood pulp industries also decidedly influenced the growth of many of our communities. Yet today our forest products have declined to a posi- tion of comparative unimportance. Lumber is no longer King; it is now but a ghost of its former self-a remnant of another economic era.
It is very difficult to imagine the appearance of this area before the coming of the white man, when the huge original wilderness was penetrated only by the trails of wild beasts and savages. Practically all of this territory was covered by a dense forest, and immense tim- ber resources existed nearly everywhere. Much of the soil compris- ing the farm lands of today once supported stately trees, where few or none are now to be seen. In addition most of the territory now comprising our forests was once covered by much larger trees than at present. The stately pines of yesterday went the way of the buffalo of the western plains-into near oblivion. The only ones spared were those so located that they could not be marketed at a profit. In place of the original giants of the virgin wilderness, most of our timber of the present day consists of second growth forests. Military detach- ments lost their way in woods where few trees are now to be found. Invariably the first settlers had to slaughter the wilderness to get clear land on which they could plant their crops. In one sense they consid- ered trees a blessing because they furnished material with which to construct homes and bridges, but very often they were regarded as a nuisance. Large tracts were purposely burned, sometimes to rid the soil of trees, sometimes to obtain ashes.
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Not only did there exist a great quantity of timber, but also con- siderable variety of both soft and hard wood. The location of the different types depended of course on geographical factors. Hoskins, in his history of Vermont, describes this matter concisely: "The intervales along the large rivers were formerly timbered with oak, butternut, elm and walnut. The plain lands were generally covered with pine. On the medium land the timber was usually beech, birch
AIR VIEW OF THE NEW SARATOGA SPA
and maple, often intermixed with spruce, hemlock, ash, elm, bass, butternut, cherry and hornbeam. In some parts of the state are swamps, which afford a plentiful supply of cedar. The sides and tops of the mountains are covered with evergreens, mostly hemlock, spruce and fir." In New York State, hardwoods were found in all sections, but practically all spruce and white cedars were confined to the Adir- ondacks. In both States white pine was of most importance, while
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hemlock was disregarded at first. It was only natural that, when the people of Vermont sought a symbol for their State seal in 1778, they chose a pine tree and a cow. As "Life" has so aptly remarked, "In 1778 Vermont's pines were a reality, its cows a wish." I have no doubt but that, if the settlers in our five New York counties had in their turn selected a symbol, they also would have decided in favor of the white pine, for this State's place in lumber history is definitely and fundamentally based on this tree. These pines averaged from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty feet in height; while in Vermont, Thompson reported in his history of that State, that pines measuring from one hundred and forty to one hundred and eighty feet were not uncommon. The maximum height in each State was approximately two hundred and fifty feet. It was not unusual to find a pine six feet in diameter at the base, while sometimes they were eighty inches across. On both sides of the Champlain Valley, and to the south, these veterans of the wilderness, regarded primarily as an encumbrance, were slaughtered right and left, this destruction continuing with increasing momentum until the virgin forests had practically ceased to exist. In the Hudson drainage system, logs and lumber moved constantly southward, but in the Champlain Valley they moved in various directions : sometimes north, sometimes south, and sometimes east, depending on changes in transportation facilities.
So far as the Champlain Valley is concerned, the history of the lumber industry may well be divided into four periods : the first last- ing from the first settlements in the vicinity of the lake until the com- pletion of the Champlain Canal in 1823. During that time Albany and Troy received timber from the area south of Ticonderoga, but the chief lumber markets were in Canada and the main trade routes were toward the north. Ashes were at first used as money to barter with the Canadian merchants, while by the opening of the nineteenth century, the transportation of ship timber and lumber to Canada had developed to a considerable extent. At Montreal and Quebec white oak and pine found a ready market, and were reshipped from there across the Atlantic. This rafting of timber and lumber down the Richelieu and the St. Lawrence was a risky undertaking and losses were frequent. It was not unusual for rafts to be swept beyond Que- bec by the current and carried to total destruction. Custom house records at Fort St. John, Quebec, indicate the extent of the marketing
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of American pine and elm timber. In the brief period from May I to July 30 in 1807, there passed down the river 132,720 cubic feet of square timber; 160,000 feet of common boards; 67,000 feet of plank, two inches thick; 20 masts; and 4,545 logs (14-18 feet long) -all white pine. In the southern end of the Champlain Valley, in the section around Whitehall, timber was transported in the winter months on sledges to Albany seventy miles away. The extent to which the forests were destroyed in this period is perhaps best indicated by the fact that, by the time the Champlain Canal was opened in 1823, the white pine had almost disappeared in western Vermont, although it was that State's leading tree.
The second period of the lumber industry lasted from the open- ing of the Champlain Canal until railroads were built connecting Bur- lington with the Atlantic seaboard, around 1850. During this time, instead of timber being shipped to Canada the Champlain lumber reservoir emptied into the Hudson. Lumber traveled in just the oppo- site direction from that of the previous era. Prior to this time saw- mills had been erected along the upper Hudson as far as Glens Falls, but the output of these, plus that shipped from the Whitehall district, had constituted but a trickle compared with the timber that now began descending on Troy, Albany and New York like a tidal wave. Saw- mills were hastily erected everywhere, and waterways were taxed to capacity. It is interesting to note the important place held by the Chazy River at this time in spite of its northern location. It was navigable as far as the village of Champlain. Not only were great numbers of trees cut in Clinton County, but hundreds of teams drew in logs each day from Canada. At Champlain they were loaded on canal boats for points south. Since no towboats existed then, the loaded craft reached Whitehall by using masts and sails, then were towed by mules to West Troy, and finally sailed on down the Hud- son. The timber from other river valleys on both sides of Lake Champlain followed much the same pattern. On Lake George the wilderness was also being leveled. In the town of Bolton alone there were twelve sawmills as early as 1810. The industry grew rapidly, the timber being rafted up the lake to Caldwell and then hauled by teams to the Hudson, there to be supplemented by logs from farther up that river. Regardless, however, of the direction from whence it came, practically all of it headed for Troy, Albany and New York.
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The next decade (1830-40), after the completion of the Champlain Canal, saw New York State reach the zenith of its career as a lumber producing area. At that time West Troy was the leading wholesale center, because of its position in our canal system, while in the 1840S Whitehall became very important as a Canadian outlet. Albany's chief claim to fame as a lumber center was to be reserved for the 1850s. Until the end of this period most of the lumber produced from the New York forests was white pine.
Meanwhile, the lumber industry was attaining new dimensions in Vermont as well. By 1840 there were 1,081 sawmills in the State. To illustrate their penetration of the counties : the Bennington County town of Shaftsbury had twelve sawmills on that date; in Rutland County, Brandon had ten, Hubbardton nine, and Pittsford eight; in Addison County, Bristol had eleven, while Ferrisburg had timber equal to any in the entire State; in Chittenden County, Underhill had ten, not to mention Burlington; and in Franklin County, Enosburg had eleven, Fairfax ten, and Highgate eight. This was the crest of the lumber era in Vermont, however, so far as production was con- cerned. The Green Mountains had been settled before the Adiron- dacks, and it was to be expected that this timber reservoir would be exhausted earlier than the other. By 1843 it looked as if the Vermont lumber industry would perish because of lack of material, and the gen- eral situation became so depressing that, in 1850, there were only 326 sawmills in the entire State, a loss of 755 in ten years. This, however, was but the darkness before the dawn, as we shall soon see.
The third lumber era existed, roughly, from 1850 to the end of the century. Although lumber traffic in the Hudson system continued southward, that of the Champlain Valley flowed predominantly east and southeast from Burlington. This marked the golden age of the lumber industry in both Albany and Burlington.
Because much of this territory was at this time in the Albany dis- trict it is interesting to trace the development of that city as a lumber center, even though it is outside the geographical boundaries of this research. In answer to the question of what made Albany such an important lumber market, Defebaugh ("Lumber Industry in Amer- ica") stated: "The Albany market grew; it was not made. The Erie and Champlain canals and the Hudson River generated, as it were, and fostered a lumber market in the old Dutch town. It was
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water transportation, in the days when railroads were not or were few and far between, that turned the lumber trade to this point, and it is water transportation that has kept the market alive for over a half century." For years after the canals were opened, the local sup- ply of lumber was great enough to render great distributing plants unnecessary, but in the 1850s this situation changed, and in 1853 Albany began to assume importance as a distribution center. From that time on until 1872, there was consistent growth. In that year 438,000,000 feet of lumber was delivered at Albany by canal, while from 1875 to 1880 a total of 700,000,000 feet from all sources com- bined, including canal, was handled annually. For about a quarter of a century, Albany claimed the honor of being the largest wholesale lumber market in the United States. The decline of Albany after 1872 has generally been blamed on two factors. In the first place, improved railroad facilities tempted lumbermen to make through ship- ments from mill to customer. In the second place, Albany's sources of white pine were nearly exhausted, and New York passed its zenith as a lumber State in 1865. As a result, this city was forced to relin- quish her leadership in the American lumber industry to Chicago.
What happened at Albany was of course more or less reflected in the upper reaches of the Hudson, although in the area nearest the city this was not true because the land was very much denuded. Wash- ington County had in 1855 only forty-nine sawmills, producing lum- ber worth $217,140, as compared with one hundred and thirty mills in 1823. At that time Warren County had sixty-eight mills, Sara- toga eighty, Essex seventy-three and Clinton one hundred and ten. These figures do not measure the Albany influence accurately, how- ever, because the counties of Essex and Clinton were inside the Cham- plain reservoir and therefore dependent upon Burlington, and because there was much variation in size of mills, some of them producing enormous quantities of lumber. For example, in 1860 one Hudson River mill alone had two hundred and fifty saws in operation. We can obtain a fair idea of the development taking place when we learn that in 1853, 36,895,490 feet of boards and scantling, and 313,470 cubic feet of timber were cleared through the collector's office at Glens Falls, alone. Four miles above this city there was constructed an expensive boom across the river, made of piers and chains. It acted as a pocket for all logs driven down the Hudson. The num-
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LUMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS
ber of market-logs increased from 132,500 in 185 1 to a maximum of 1,069,000 in 1872, which is the same date that marked the climax of Albany's development. Over a period of twenty-seven years this was the equivalent of approximately 91, 180,741 feet of lumber annually, while it has been roughly estimated that the amount manufactured on the Hudson above the boom was 5,000,000 feet annually. As at Albany, however, a decline set in after 1872. In the State as a whole the number of mills declined from 3,963 in 1865 to 2,822 in 1880, and to 1,742 in 1899.
Meanwhile an equally great change was taking place in the Cham- plain Valley. As we have noted, western Vermont ceased to be a large-scale lumber producing area in the 1840s. In this same dec- ade, however, railroad lines were being built connecting Burlington with the Atlantic seacoast. With their completion a decided change in the routes of lumber transportation took place. Instead of moving northward as timber tended to before 1823, or southward toward Albany and Troy as it did between then and 1850, it now moved toward Burlington from all directions, particularly from Canada, to be then reshipped toward Boston. The first cargo of Canadian lum- ber arrived in 1850, and Burlington then began to assume its position as a distribution center. By 1860, the sales of this market amounted to about 40,000,000 feet. A Burlington lumberman wrote in 1863 :
"Little did the projectors of our railroads dream that within ten years after the completion of their roads, almost every available space on their ground at Burlington would be lumbered up with boards and planks on their distant voyage to Europe, South America, California and the far isles of the Pacific, but such is the fact.
"The lumber is brought here from the mills on the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence and their tributaries without sorting, and is here sorted to meet the requirements of the different markets.
"If a ship at Boston, bound for Australia, needs a cargo of lumber, it is put into the cars at the planing mill, carried to Boston and unloaded direct from the cars to the vessel. If one for the West Indies calls for a load, it can be supplied with a cargo of rough boards with the same facility and dispatch. Every demand for pine lumber or any of its manufactures, whether rough, dressed, tongued and grooved, made into doors, sash, blinds or boxes, or even houses, ready made, can be furnished to order upon short notice."
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Importation of unmanufactured wood from Canada tended to vary considerably, but the maximum was reached in the 188os. It is true that the record of 169,902,000 feet was established in 1873, while as late as 1897 there was 158,228,000 feet imported (this figure being due largely to the tariff rates on lumber enacted that year), but in the twelve-year period from 1880 to 1891, inclusive, imports never dipped below 100,000,000 feet. Burlington's exports of furniture alone reached $283,110 in value in 1894. At the height of the lumber imports of the 188os, over four hundred steamers and barges were engaged in the trade. It is said that a single tow, arriving at Bur- lington, often scaled 3,000,000 feet. This city was the greatest lumber port in all New England; while in the United States as a whole it was exceeded in importance only by Chicago and Albany. During the 188os its population increased 28.4 per cent ; while in the following decade there was another growth of 27.8 per cent. The population of 1900 was 18,640, compared with 11,365 in 1880. This period of the lumber industry in the Champlain Valley ended in 1897, to be exact, when a duty of two dollars a thousand feet was imposed on lumber imported from Canada.
During this same period there was also considerable activity on the New York side of the Champlain Valley. Thanks to later settle- ment, this section's timber was not exhausted at such an early date. Until about 1870 production continued at full blast, but the inevitable was only delayed. This became the first State in the Union to act to preserve its forests. Most of its rivers rose within the Adirondack area, and the destruction of the wilderness was bound to affect water- flow seriously if continued. Besides, there was also the danger of permanent damage to scenery and wild life. A commission headed by Horatio Seymour was appointed in 1872 to study the situation, with the result that protective legislation was introduced in the 188os over the opposition of the lumber barons. In 1895, the Forest, Fish and Game Commission was appointed and further restrictions were added.
While brakes were being applied to the production of lumber in the northern Adirondacks, imports from Canada naturally increased in the Plattsburgh district. Except for the 245,624,000 feet brought in in 1897 due to the imposition of the tariff rates referred to, maximum imports of 238,238,000 feet were reported for 1893. Plattsburgh had not been noted for lumber exports since the first period of the indus-
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try's development, but in the 1890s it began to ship considerable quantities of hardwoods to industries in lower Canada. In 1900 4,066,000 feet of sawed, unmanufactured lumber was thus exported.
The fourth and last great period in the lumber industry is con- fined to the twentieth century, and is primarily one of decline. The causes of this trend are obvious, as a result of our previous dis- cussion. The choicest timber had already been cut down in the pre- ceding century; State regulation checked the operations of lumbermen; while the handling of imported lumber had been decreased because of the imposition of the tariff rates of 1897. Waste of many kinds was an additional reason. Lumbermen had little thought of the future in their logging operations. Timber thieves in particular tended to take only the finest logs, leaving the remainder to decay at leisure. There was much carelessness about fires, and many conflagrations were caused by sparks from locomotives. Too often, hemlock logs were allowed to rot after tannery owners had stripped off the bark. The demands of the wood-pulp industry caused the slaughter of smaller trees than before. Finally, the cutting of Christmas trees on a large scale resulted in still further waste. In general Vermont soil is richer than in the Adirondack area. When trees were once felled there was a greater tendency to keep the land under cultivation rather than to let new trees develop. All these factors, and others, combined to under- mine the lumber industry. Today local lumber production is cer- tainly not an exceedingly profitable enterprise. Most of the timber now cut is for pulpwood, which is a story by itself.
The first sawmill erected in the State of Vermont is said to have been built by the French at Swanton, in Franklin County. In the New York counties the spread of mills northward was rapid and con- sistent. According to lumber authorities the first was erected at Half- moon, Saratoga County, in 1762; the second in Queensbury, War- ren County, in 1763; the third in Whitehall, Washington County, by Skene, in 1766; the fourth by Gilliland in Willsboro, Essex County, in 1767; and, while the fifth and sixth were built in Washington County, the seventh was constructed by Fredenburgh in 1769 at Plattsburgh, Clinton County. Since that time there have been great changes in mills. The first ones were driven by water power, while the saw used was of the sash or gate variety. The sawing machinery consisted of an upright saw in a frame driven by a connecting rod from a crank attached to an
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end of the water wheel shaft. The machinery of that time was rather crude, and a large amount of power was needed to work it. The mill itself was generally built of rough hewed timbers, strongly braced, and nothing but the roof was boarded. Sometimes an entire day's output was between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. The next great improvement in machinery was the gang saw, which was simply composed of several parallel saws in the sash. Later the mulay or single saw, more pow- erful and rapid than the sash saw, increased production to 5,000 or 8,000 feet per day. Still later, the use of steam for motive power and the perfection of circular saws once more greatly increased the daily output.
The first shingle machine was used around the end of the War of 1812; while the earliest clapboard machine was introduced about 1820. Because laws forbade slabs being thrown into rivers, as had been orig- inally a normal method of their disposal, laths were primarily made of slabs. An idea of the primitive character of the first sawmills can be gained from a description of lathes in the early part of the nineteenth century. The lathe of that time, according to the "Northwestern Lum- berman" of 1886, "consisted of a dry hardwood pole about twelve feet long and two inches in diameter, placed horizontally about eight feet from the floor, fastened at one end. A rope, strap or a cord of dry hide was fastened to the other end, with a turn around the piece to be worked, which was about three feet from the floor; the rope was made fast to a treadle, the end of which was made fast by means of a tenon in a mortise and a peg which made a hinge. The chisel or gouge was then placed in a rest and against the piece to be turned. The thing was then put into operation by placing one foot on the treadle, the spring of the pole and the weight of the pole keeping the thing in motion. As the foot bore down the piece would turn and the chisel would cut, cutting only one-half the time. The device answered very well and was largely used. The first improvement in the lathe was made about sixty-five years ago (1821), which was effected by the use of a large wheel in the room of the pole and treadle. It took one man to turn the wheel and one to hold the chisel. That mode of turning con- tinued until within fifty-five years (1831), when steam power was used."
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